


Nice Ring

by tootiredmotel



Series: peter stark is a sweetheart [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Autistic Peter, Father-Son Relationship, Multi, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, at least for peter, dad tony, semi non super, son peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 16:37:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13662996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tootiredmotel/pseuds/tootiredmotel
Summary: The first work in a series is called a pilot.In this case, the beginning of Tony's life was not when he was born, entirely. It wasn't when Howard and Mom died, and it wasn't when he became Iron Man.Most people would think that a one night stand dropping off your kid nine months later would be the end of your life. Especially when that kid has special needs.But for Tony, getting Peter was the start of his life.





	Nice Ring

**Author's Note:**

> lololol I keep getting hit with different prompts and decided to make ANOTHER series. I PROMISE to upload chapters for Open Lab at least by Wednesday night. I'm having difficulty writing this essay and getting the page to load anyways & I have another class starting tomorrow, it's like two hours long bc it's the class and lab rolled into one:/
> 
> Anyways, if you guys ever get the chance, watch Atypical on Netflix! I started & finished it today

the beginning of Tony's life was not when he was born, entirely. It wasn't when Howard and Mom died, and it wasn't when he became Iron Man.

Most people would think that a one night stand dropping off your kid nine months later would be the end of your life. Especially when that kid has special needs.

But for Tony, getting Peter was the start of his life. 

*  
*  
*

Tony was having a good night. In fact, it was going great considering he had palladium poisoning. Tony had Thai food from his favorite Thai place, Pepper brought a bottle of wine. Plus, Pepper was spending the night. So far, so good. 

It wasn’t until he and Pepper were...busy...that his night was interrupted. Like he said, he was having a good night. And most people would say that their night would go downhill when a one night stand shows up nine months later, carrier in hand. 

“Business hours are between eight and five every other Thursday, Coulson. I already-um.”  
Tony was at a loss for words. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew Pepper was gonna be pissed. He also knew that whatever this woman said, this woman not comforting her wailing newborn, would change the course of his life forever, somehow. 

“Tony. Good. This is your son.”

The billionaire didn’t know how to answer that. He couldn’t have a son, he’s Iron Man. Plus, he’s been with Pepper for a bit and he hasn’t-it apparently doesn’t matter if his last one night stand was nine months ago. What mattered was that his last one night stand from nine months ago showed up at all, with a baby no less. Leave it to Tony to literally go out with a bang. 

“Look, I don’t care what you decide to do. Keep him, don’t keep him. It’s up to you. I just thought you should know that you have a child.” Tony forced himself to look up from the carrier, glancing at the brunette woman. “I obviously can’t keep him. I’m engaged and Richard doesn’t want to raise some other guy’s kid.” Tony could get that. He wouldn’t want to raise someone else’s kid with the life he was living. There was no room for kids. “So, I’m going to set this down and then I’m going to go home to my fiance. We have too much going to take on some kid.”

And if that didn’t piss Tony off, the next time he saw Mary Fitzpatrick certainly did. 

“Tony?” Pepper’s voice came from the hall, as she left the bedroom in a robe. “Who was at the door at this hour? Wait, different question. Whose baby is that?”  
Tony looked up from the carrier on the ground in the hallway. This kid was already a natural at puppy eyes. He had bright, brown bambi eyes, and the Stark nose, for sure, just a bit more buttonish. There was no doubt about it. 

“He’s mine.”

Peter Stark had a nice ring to it. 

_________________________________________

 

When Tony saw Mary again, it was under unfortunate circumstances. And he was livid. 

Tony had decided to screenings done, just in case. And it was a good thing he did, because in light of Peter being diagnosed as someone on the autism spectrum, he was diagnosed early. The doctor was really nice about Tony’s lack of knowledge on the spectrum, having only known the stereotypical cases. And he was really good with Peter. The kid was learning so fast and Tony couldn’t be prouder. 

It wasn’t until he saw Richard Parker at that very research hospital that the day turned sour. 

“Ah, Stark. I see you’re trying to own up to your mistakes. That’s a bit adult like, for you. Isn’t it a little early for you to not be hungover somewhere?”

And if that didn’t ignite the fire in Tony’s bones, what Richard said next certainly did. How dare he insinuate Peter was a mistake. 

“See, I figured you would’ve paid for Mary to get an abortion, considering what the kid is. Such a shame, really. The spawn of two relatively great minds, and all.” 

If Tony didn’t have Peter in his arms, this guy would be on the ground. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, it showed up on an ultrasound. What, Mary didn’t tell you?” Parker feigned surprise, mocking both Tony and Peter. “Figures. Mary likes to bury mistakes. Just thought you did too.”

Don’t punch him, don’t punch him, you’ll set a bad example for Peter, don’t punch him. 

 

About a week later, he found out Richard and Mary Parker were killed in a plane crash. Even the part of Tony that wanted Peter to have two parents couldn’t help but think good riddance. He had seen Mary one more time after nearly killing Richard on the spot for what he said. She had apologized for Richard’s behavior. Said it was inappropriate to act like that, especially in the hospital that they were trying to partner with Oscorp. But the only legitimate apology that escaped Mary’s lips were that she was sorry Tony had to “deal with it”, nodding at Peter. She said she knew she was ashamed, and she couldn’t imagine what Tony was going through, trying to hide Peter from the press when he was so well known. After that, Tony was ready to sue, have their licenses revoked and their ability to research gone.  But he couldn’t, not without dragging Peter into the spotlight. He didn’t want his son to be known as the “burden I couldn’t handle”, in Mary’s exact words. When Peter made his public debut, it was going to be for something great, not family drama. So the only thing Tony could do was buy the very hospital they were trying to absorb at Oscorp. It was finalized the day the Douche Parker’s had boarded the plane.   
And that was that. 

Pepper helped out a lot. She even found a fantastic specialist known for keeping her clients privacy tight. Happy was a great help, as well. Watching Peter whenever Pepper and Tony had board meetings. But the biggest help was probably Rhodey. Mentally, anyways. Sure, Pepper and Happy were great with Peter, having adored the infant instantly upon meeting him. But Rhodey had officially declared himself godfather (Tony already had a file on hold before even introducing Peter to his best friend). All in all, Tony couldn’t ask for a better family. 

And over the years, Tony learned things about his son. 

First and foremost, Peter was crazy smart. While he might only be in a pre-primary school, Tony was pretty sure that his kid was the first in his class. What really amused Tony was Peter correcting him, “Actually, Daddy, Gwen Stacey is the smartest person at school. She said that it’s because she has to be, because she’s on a scol-school ship. But I think she’s really smart.” Tony had smiled fondly that day (like literally every day). “Scholarship, Pete.” Sure, technically this little girl in Peter’s class might actually be ranked first, but there was no doubt about it, he kid was brilliant. He knew all sorts of things. For instance. Whenever Peter was having both a bad day or good day, he would babble on and on about spiders. 

Peter loved spiders. Loved, loved spiders. Tony didn’t really understand why, because the eight legged micro monsters creeped him out. And worse than a micro monster? A giant one. Of course Peter wanted a tarantula. He would give in eventually and buy the kid some scary beast later. He wanted to save it for either a really bad day or a really good day. 

Peter has a difficult time maintaining eye contact, but he’s got it nailed with Tony and even Pepper. As far as Rhodey and Happy go, he’s getting better. The same went for the back and forth of conversations. But man, the mouth on that kid. Anytime Tony, Happy or Rhodey spoke sarcastically towards Pepper, Peter could hold his banter. He was pretty witty, too. Which, of course, Tony prided himself for, taking the credit. It was when Happy asked him where he learned to speak like that that Peter had admitted to hearing his Daddy “be snarky” with someone named Agent or Phil, he wasn’t really sure. And he learned to get better when Pepper outwit Tony. 

Something else Tony had picked up on, whenever Peter heard a new word, he would repeat it over and over. Tony learned this was called echolalia. Along with that came his unique phrasing. Sometimes people had a hard time understand his speech because he would throw in a random vocabulary word he was working on personally. While it didn’t make sense to strangers, those who understood how his pattern flows, understood what Peter meant when he used uncommon vocabulary. Tony’s particuluary favorite moment was when he and Pepper had been watching the news. Peter had come out of practically nowhere, peanut butter toast in hand and backpack on his shoulders. “If you’ve met one individual with autism, you’ve met one individual with autism.” When Tony asked where he learned it, he had simply stated it was Stephen M. Shore. He had then explained that other kids might not get it, but he was different from a lot of other kids. 

Peter had a bad day, once. A really bad day. Tony did all that he could to stop himself from getting out of the car with Happy to sign Peter out from school early that day. His baby was really upset, tear streaks marked his face. He had crawled into Tony’s lap once in the car, crying about how the light and noise were too much. That was how they found out Peter would get bad cases of sensory overload on a particularly bad day. 

Peter already didn’t like people touching his stuff without his permission, but on bad days he would pinch himself and have mini freakouts. He would say that people were breaking the rules if they touched something that wasn’t theirs without asking.   
Peter also had a difficult time understanding things from other people’s point of view. So he didn’t understand why Gwen had gotten upset when his Valentine’s card wasn’t “as personal” as hers was. Peter didn’t get it, the card she gave him had cartoon sandwiches on it with smiling faces. It had said “we go together like peanut butter & jelly” and all it said on the one Peter gave her said “happy valentine’s”. Peter was confused because he didn’t even like jelly, so he told his dad that if anyone should be upset it’s him, he don’t like jelly and Gwen had said they go together like peanut butter and jelly, so that meant they shouldn’t be friends. Tony had to stop him before he got so worked up, explaining that while Peter doesn’t like jelly, Gwen might. So she thought it was a compliment and didn’t mean to hurt Peter’s feelings. He also explained to his six year old that Gwen was probably upset because Peter’s didn’t say they “go together” because she probably liked him. To which Tony then started claiming his son “has game”. 

There were many things Tony loved about his son. But what he loved most of all was that he even got to be with his son. All it had taken was for Mary and Richard to get an abortion, or drop Peter off at a fire station. Tony thanked whatever God was listening every night that there was a sliver of maternity in Mary’s body that she even thought to bring the child to his biological father. 

 

All of these things Tony would learn when the time came. But for now all he could do was lift his baby out of the carrier, carrying what we would soon call his greatest creation over to the couch where Pepper sat. Those big, trusting, brown eyes captured Tony’s soul and he couldn’t help but smile fondly.  Because Peter Stark had a nice ring to it.


End file.
